Tag Archives: Alec Motyer

Despondency and discouragement are an unfortunate part of the human experience. While not simply dealt with in many cases, the solution must always include turning to the LORD, through the Word.

Alec Motyer:

The Lord’s therapy is to bring us, by means of his Word, pondered and understood, out of depression and the downcast face (Luke 24:17) into the burning heart, bouyant step, and the assured testimony (Luke 24:32-35). (from Isaiah By The Day, p. 245)

My reading of Isaiah this morning provided an example of what a counseling session looks like between God and his people.

A despondent people:

And Zion has said:

‘Yahweh has left me;

and, Sovereign though he is, he has forgotten me!’ (Isaiah 49:14)

But then, a precious promise, spoken by God, for countering the despondency of his people:

Like this:

The first and major indication of a transforming work of God is a new need for the truth, a conviction where the truth is to be found, a zeal for the Word of Truth, an appetite for God’s Book. And not just the first sign, but also God’s recipe for progress to maturity. As Peter put it: ‘Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord’ (2 Pet. 3:18); as Paul instructed Timothy, ‘Abide in the things you have learned…the sacred writings…all Holy Scripture…’ (2 Tim. 3:14-16).

Like this:

The prophet Isaiah paints a stunning picture of the future that is assured to God’s people. There is a rich, bountiful banquet that is being prepared, a party like none you’ve ever attended. Read this slowly and take note of the intricate and diverse details that Isaiah says are part of our future:

Yahweh,
You are my God.
I will exalt you,
give thanks for your name,
for you have accomplished wonderful plans,
from long before,
in total faithfulness...
And Yahwe of Hosts will make
for all the peoples,
on this mountain,
a banquet of rich food,
a banquet of matured wines,
rich food, full of nourishment,
matured wines fully clarified.
And on this mountain
he will swallow up
the expansive covering that covers all the peoples,
and the web woven over all the nations.
He will swallow up death in perpetuity,
and the Sovereign, Yahweh, will wipe the tears from
upon all faces,
and his people's reproach he will remove from upon
all the earth.
For it is Yahweh who has spoken.
And each will say,
in that day,
'Behold,
this is our God!
We have waited confidently for him to save us.
This is Yahweh for whom we have waited confidently.
We will exult and rejoice in his salvation.'
For Yahweh's hand will rest on this mountain.
(Isaiah 25:1, 6-10, translation from Alec Motyer)

Breathtaking!

Please don’t pass over how important this text is for you today. It is meant to function as a corrective to your potential discouragement, despair, apathy, or crabbiness. When any of those (or like emotions) enters into your world today, recall this text. Consider the promise that this is your future, in spite of whatever circumstance arises in your life.

It makes me think of the joy that poverty-stricken, despair-ridden Charlie expresses when he opens the chocolate bar and finds the golden ticket, opening the door to the paradise of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory.

Alec Motyer stokes the fire of our joy as recipients of the invitation to the banquet of the Messiah:

The Lord Jesus pre-viewed the messianic banquet in the feeding miracles (Mark 6:30-44; 8:1-9), and even more particularly in the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (Matt. 25:1-13), where the wedding feast, with the welcomed guests securely shut in with the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:10), anticipates the marriage feast of the Lamb (Rev. 19:1-9).

Reading and re-reading Isaiah 25:6-9 [above] it is impressed on us that this is one of the Bible’s high spots: ultimate, eternal reality is a banquet, with no expense spared, every provision made and, lest there should be anything to mar our enjoyment of it, every tear dried (cf., Rev. 7:17).

And this is no mere flight of prophetic fancy or some ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ pie in the sky. It is confirmed by Jesus and reiterated by one who was, so to speak, allowed to be there, the seer John caught up to heaven and shown its delights. (paragraphing and emphasis mine)

Dear friends, please walk in the confirmed-by-Jesus wonder and joy of what is yours, because of him.